Asian LNG Import Statistics of April 2018

According to latest issued official data, the four major LNG importers of Asia and the world, Japan, China, South Korea and India reported their LNG import data of April 2018. Only Japan saw drops, while the other three mounted.

Japan imported 5.6 million tons of LNG in April, down 18.3% Y-O-Y and 29.4% M-O-M. The LT price was $9.1/mn Btu, and the spot price was $8.8/mn Btu. This is the second consecutive month of drops in a row, because of the intensive restarts of nuclear reactors in Japan.

China imported 3.39 million tons of LNG in April, up 56.5% Y-O-Y and 4.3% M-O-M. China’s LNG import in the first four months of 2018 has reached 15.75 million tons, up 58.3% from the previous year, driven by the firm promotion of the coal-to-gas reform.

South Korea, the third largest LNG importer of the world, imported 3.22 million tons of LNG in April, up 38.6% Y-O-Y, and the average import price was $9.32/mn Btu in April.

India imported 1.68 million tons of LNG in April, up 4.5% Y-O-Y.

The above four major importers achieved 13.89 million tons of LNG imports in total in April 2018.